Video 1:59
Dire predictions for future rice crops

Updated
Mon Sep 21 14:46:00 EST 2009

Rice growers are expected to face another difficult summer, irrigation allocations have been cut and long-range weather forecasts show little rain.

Transcript

Action on climate change can't come fast enough for rice farmers in Australia. Last year was bad, this year may be worse. That's the dire prediction for this year's rice crop. Irrigation allocations have been slashed as farmers wait for rain and some growers are facing a second year without a harvest. Environment reporter Sarah Clarke travelled to Leeton in the NSW Riverina for this report. At this time of year Rob Houghton should be busy preparing his fields to plant rice but there's been no rain and he has zero allocation. As a result, his paddocks lie bare. The long-range weather forecast doesn't look good and just our experience of the last few years it looks like we're in for another hard summer. The Riverina is traditionally Australia's biggest rice growing region. Once capable of producing more than a million tonnes, this year Rob Houghton says he's unlikely to get a crop. My father started growing rice in 1942 and he hasn't missed a crop in his whole working life. Two years ago was our first crop that we missed and this will be our second. The rice mill in Deniliquin is the big nest the Southern Hemisphere, it hasn't processed a grain of rice for at least 2 years.. It's quite unprecedented this long spell of dryness, particularly up in our catchment. So we've got to adjust our program to make sure that we can just make ends meet until we get that water back. For those lucky enough to plant this season, they will be rewarded with a healthy return. Rice is fetching more per megalitre of water than any other crop. That's the frustration. The drought will break, we will grow rice again, the sooner the better. The real test will be the next few weeks when growers are hoping for last-minute rain but with an El Nino event predicted to bring dry conditions, the outlook for